


Breathe With Me

by quoth_the_dragon



Category: Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Nightmares, Romance, Sleep Paralysis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:47:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24767185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quoth_the_dragon/pseuds/quoth_the_dragon
Summary: Hades' insomnia has been bad this week. For good reason. Persephone is determined to help him in any way she can, but knowing how to do that depends on Hades being open about his needs... his absolute favourite activity.Some angst, but also adorable, supportive fluff. CW for sleep paralysis and panic/anxiety. Will note additional warnings as necessary.
Relationships: Hades/Persephone (Lore Olympus)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 102





	Breathe With Me

**Author's Note:**

> CW for sleep paralysis, non-verbal episodes, and panic/anxiety. 
> 
> But don't worry, fluff too! 
> 
> Lore Olympus does not belong to me (nor do the Greek gods...Fates, don't smite me!). The ever talented Rachel Smythe has captured these characters in her own beautiful Underworld. I'll probably play with them for six months of the year. 
> 
> Stay safe out there, everyone.
> 
> Love,   
> H

She woke to the feeling of her hand rising and falling rapidly where it lay on Hades’ chest. All week, Persephone had awoken to the light blue glow of his phone, but tonight the room was steeped in darkness. His insomnia, something that now seldom reared its head, had been worse this week and she often woke to see his face lit by the phone’s glow. The darkness must mean he had fallen asleep, but his breathing...it was ragged and choked. Panic plunged through her veins. She bolted upright and turned on the lamp, forcing a turquoise glow to break the darkness.

Hades lay limp, staring at the ceiling, his broken breath carrying quivering whimpers.

“Aidoneus,” she said softly. “You’re safe. You’re alright. I’m going to take your hand.” She picked up his phone where it rested on his stomach and moved it to the night stand. Then she slipped her hand into his where it lay at his side. She squeezed his hand, so cold, and a deep blue.

“Can you feel me?”

A strangled noise croaked in his throat. But his lips remained sealed in a hard line.

“You don’t have to speak,” she soothed, “Just look at me if you can feel my hand.”

He moved his eyes to look at her and she felt her heart quake to see his irises, flooded red with fear.

“Good. Now, try to breathe with me. I’ll squeeze your hand for in, and then again for out.” She visibly breathed in, squeezing his hand. With another squeeze, she dramatically exhaled. She could see the concentration in his eyes. His brow furrowed with effort as he forced his trembling breath into her lengthened rhythm.

“I’m right here with you. You’re completely safe.”

She continued to breathe in and out with him. She saw his jaw start to slacken, and his leg twitched. Finally, she felt him lightly return her squeeze.

“That’s it. There we go.” She gave his hand a final squeeze before releasing it so he could move freely. He gasped for air and moved his legs up and down, freed from the grip of his sleep tortures.

“Hey now, slow down. Breathe with me again.” She resumed her exaggerated breathing and he followed suit, clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides, bunching his toes in the sheets.

“Do you know where you are?”

He choked on a syllable, and she hushed him. “It’s ok. You don’t have to speak yet. Let’s go slow. Nod yes or no. Do you know where you are?”

He nodded, eyes closed, brow furrowed in shame.

“Hey, don’t worry. You’re alright.” She coaxed. “Do you know who I am?”

He opened his eyes and reached a shaky hand for her cheek. He nodded, looking at her with a strange mix of relief, fear, and sadness.

“Aidoneus,” she whispered. “Can I touch you?”

He hesitated and then nodded again.

“Are you sure? I’m not trying to rush you.” She worried about that hesitation.

He blinked and nodded more firmly.

Satisfied, she scooched closer until she was half reclined beside him, propped up on an elbow so he could look at her if he wanted to. She pressed her leg to his and draped her hand across his chest. He was still cold with sweat and panic. She focused all her spring warmth into her fingers as she stroked meandering circles across his chest, her fingers dancing over the cruel geography of his scars. She felt him relax into her touch and the red fear started to fade from his eyes as he leaned his head into her arm where it held her upright. His breath started to relax and she could feel the waves of his trembling ebbing into stillness. Spirals and circles, trailing balmy spring mist over the textured planes of his chest. She poured her warmth out to greet his cold with comfort.

“Are you feeling any better?”

He nodded, not opening his eyes, and a small hum throbbed in his throat.

“Do you want to try speaking?”

He opened his eyes and looked at her, unsure. A glint of red flashing along the circumference of his pupil.

“No rush,” she stroked his cheek. “Whenever you’re ready. You can just say my name. Or ‘hello.’ Or ‘shut up.’ In fact, maybe I’ll just keep on talking until you tell me to—”

“K- K-”

She abandoned her playful chatter and stroked his arm, encouraging him. She waited. She could see him concentrating on moving the sound out of his throat.

“K- Ko-”

She dropped a gentle kiss on his shoulder.

“Ko- Ko- Kore.” He panted from the effort.

She smiled at him. “I knew you could do it, my beautiful Aidon,” she whispered.

He closed his eyes and gave her a tired smile.

“Can I kiss you?”

“Y- ye- yes.” His voice was gravelly, like he hadn’t used it in a while. She cupped his face and leaned down to kiss him. He ran his fingers through the hair at the nape of her neck. She pulled away and smiled at him. He brushed her hair behind her ear, dislodging a blue petal as he did. It fluttered down and landed on his cheek. His deep chuckle was music to her ears. She sat up and kissed his forehead as she scooched to the edge of the bed.

“D-don’t g-g-go y-yet.” She felt his hand flutter over hers.

“I’m just going to get you some water. I’ll be right back.”

He nodded his consent and she went to the bathroom. She took a deep breath as she filled a glass. He’d come out of the sleep paralysis a lot faster this time. The first time had taken nearly an hour to break the paralysis and calm down afterwards—partially because she was so scared and he felt so guilty for upsetting her. She had never seen this happen to someone before...

Her original misunderstanding of the paralysis couldn’t have made it easy for him to escape from its clutches. Once he could move again, it was still a while before he could speak again. That speech, once recovered was mostly spent comforting her and reassuring her he was alright. After what felt like an endless night, he had to get up and head to work.

“You’re— you can’t just go to work now.”

“I h-have to.” He shrugged into a shirt and turned his back on her as he retrieved a tie.

“But...are you sure you’re alright?” she sat on the edge of the bed, toes barely brushing the floor.

“I p-promise.” He turned to her and smiled weakly.

She must not have looked convinced. He strode across the room and knelt in front of her. He cupped her face and kissed her gently.

“D-don’t worry.” Even though he stuttered she could still hear his voice growing stronger. Still, she worried about him all day. By the end of the day, the paper she was supposed to be working had a word count of approximately ten. When he returned from work, it took all her strength not to run to him. He looked so tired.

After slipping off his shoes and draping his jacket over a chair, he smiled at her and crossed the room to where she sat. He knelt and she threw her arms around his neck, squeezing him to her. She could feel him melting into the embrace as he rubbed her back.

“How are you doing?” She whispered.

He chuckled a little. “I’m ok. Better now I’m home.”

“Can we talk about this morning?” She whispered, wary.

He sighed in her arms. “Yeah. That’s probably a good idea.” He leaned back and offered a reassuring smile.

“We don’t have to right now, if you don’t want to. I mean eventually we should...” she rambled. “I was just—I was worried about you... I’ve been thinking and I know I reacted really poorly. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make things worse—”

He squeezed her shoulders. “Hey, it’s alright. You don’t need to apologize. I should have prepared you better for that. I know it’s a scary thing to watch. I’m sorry I didn’t—”

“Don’t _you_ apologize now! It must be even scarier to go through. I shouldn’t have panicked like I did. You shouldn’t have had to comfort me. I should have—”

“Shhh...” He pulled her back into a hug. “You helped just by being there.” He rumbled into her neck.

This time, she pulled back. “I want to help even more. If—if that happens again, I want to know what to do. I want to know what you need from me.” She squeezed his arms emphatically.

She was surprised to feel him stand up, escaping their embrace. He rubbed a hand over his eyes and sat heavily on the couch across from her. He leaned back, rubbing his hands over his eyes. “You shouldn’t have to do anything.” His voice had frozen to a practiced, hardened edge. “I can manage it on my own. I just should have warned you. You don’t have to do anything about my problems.”

She felt a kernel of anger starting to heat within her. She stood to her full height—all five feet of it—and moved to stand over him where he sat.

“If you’re only saying that because you think you’d be burdening me with ‘your problems,’ then that’s not really fair.”

“And how, exactly, is it unfair to deal with my own problems instead of dumping them on you?” He met her gaze now, but his arms were crossed over his chest. She could sense his guard, steely and solid, sliding into place around him.

She softened. “Because, Aidon, I’ve promised to be honest with you. And I am honestly offering a to help and support you. If you don’t want me to help, say so. If that’s the truth then I respect it, but if you are telling me not to help because you’ve assumed I’m not serious about offering, then that’s you being dishonest with me. Does...that make sense?” It made sense in her head. She’d watched Hades, the master shutter-downer, logic his way out of sharing any of his cares for far too long. The first time he’d had a nightmare with her in the bed, he tried to pass it off as talking in his sleep. He had been screaming. And sobbing. At least she outwitted him that time and insisted that she was balancing things out after he had helped her through so many of her own nightmares.

“I think so.” He sighed and uncrossed his arms.

She took that as an invitation and crawled into his arms, nuzzling against his chest. She ran her fingers up and down the line of buttons and felt his breath warm her head where his nose was in her hair.

“I want to be here for you. I reacted badly last night, but I know I can be better if you tell me what you need.”

“I don’t even know what I need.” She felt a quiver in his voice when it nearly got lost in her hair.

“No one’s ever helped you before?”

“Well, sort of, but...I don’t know. It’s all so foggy and... scary. I don’t...” He squeezed her tighter.

She looked up and kissed his cheek. “Maybe...” she tried, “we can make it like something you do know...”

“How? Even after all these years. I can’t—”

She cut off his mounting frustration, stroking his chest. He rubbed his brow.

“I know! Let’s make it like work.” She perked up. Looking at his face, hoping to read his features. “You’re good at that! Let’s do a performance review!”

He looked at her with skepticism and amusement warring in his eyes.

“I’ll recount things that happened, the stuff I did, and then you tell me ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and how I can improve. Judge. Just like work.”

“And how do you know I’m good at work?”

“Well, all hell hasn’t broken loose yet...so...” She wiggled her eyebrows, barely containing her eagerness. “It’ll be like a game,” she grinned.

He tried to match her smile.

She sensed his wariness and reached for his hand, squeezing it. “And we can stop whenever you want. We can take little steps. Whatever works.”

“Ok,” he sighed and she watched his smile spread at her obvious triumph.

She hopped out of his lap and sat cross-legged facing him on the couch. She straightened her back and mimed a clip-board. “Ahem,” she adjusted an imaginary pair of glasses. "First order of business: Kore trying to shake you awake. Good or Bad?”

“Um...bad.”

She pretended to write a note. “Improvements?”

“Um...don’t shake me?”

“Let’s try to be a little more specific,” she whispered, “ _Why_ shouldn’t I shake you? What should I do instead?” She straightened back up into character.

“Uh...” he wrestled with his discomfort for a second before straightening up and clearing his throat to lean into the roleplay. She was glad the business voice she knew so well could be a refuge for him now. “Kore should refrain from shaking or shoving... and should instead um... do this.” He picked up her hand and squeezed it a couple times. Losing some of the business tone, “When you woke up, I wasn’t actually asleep anymore...I was just...I couldn’t move.” His eyes had softened to the earnest expression she loved so much.

She nodded and squeezed his hand back.

He cleared his throat again. “Therefore, future shaking will not be necessary.”

“Your concerns have been noted. Next: Kore turning on the lights.” “Good. It’s helpful to see the room... and its occupants.” He blushed a little.

“Excellent. Next: Kore screaming and crying hysterically until the dogs come in and jump all over you.” Her voice started to shrink toward the end and this time it was her turn to blush. She knew exactly what judgement she would receive.

A tired smile quirked at his lips and he put a comforting hand on her knee. “Bad,” he said softly. She looked at him apologetically and he reached for her hand. “It’s easier to stay calm when you—er, when Kore stays calm too. When I saw I was upsetting you but I couldn’t get out of...whatever I was trapped in, it just made it harder to calm down. And having dogs in the room adds just a little extra to the chaos.” He smirked.

She brought his hand to her mouth and kissed his knuckles. “The committee has requested some suggested phrases for Kore to say.”

“Oh, there’s a committee now? Well, maybe I should be more discreet with my answers then—”

“Uhhh,” she scrambled, “the committee has now disbanded because the subject proved unyielding to questioning.” She laughed nervously. “It’s just me now. But, just between you and me,” she whispered, “You’re doing great.”

“And who are you exactly?” He squinted with mock suspicion.

“I’m...I’m...” She searched for a name and her eyes settled on the chair across the room. “Pillow...io..pe.”

He raised his eyebrows, “Pillowiope?”

“Yes! Now, out with it! Suggested phrases!” She raised her clipboard like a baseball bat.

He chuckled at the impossible threat, returning to business mode. “Miss Kore might consider reassuring her companion that he is safe and in his own bed and that she is real and present—accompanied with the afore-demonstrated hand squeeze.”

“I will pass this along.” Her invisible pen flurried over the imaginary clipboard. “And what about holding you close once you start breathing and moving again?”

“Um...bad and good?”

“Clarification required.” She looked at him over her make-believe glasses.

“When I’m first able to move again, it can be a bit overwhelming to feel restricted again.” He caught himself slipping from their game again and attempted to return. “Better to remain present but without contact until consent is obtained.” Then his voice softened, “At which point, a hug from Kore would likely be a great comfort indeed.”

“Good, good...” She ‘recorded’ the results.

“And, Pillowiope, you might consider adding to your list of suggested phrases the reminder to breathe. I’m sure you are aware of how difficult it is to remember to do so.” He said with mock-gravity.

She bit her lips to hold back a smile. “Of course, sir,” she responded seriously. “We are nearing the end of questioning. So, finally, um... how...” she trailed off, thinking how best to phrase her final question.

“Yes, Pillowiope?” He smirked, clearly enjoying her frantically-chosen alias.

“How...” she slumped a little, abandoning the clipboard charade. “How do I help you speak again?”

He closed his eyes and sank back into the couch. He must have known the question was coming. She had noticed his stutter when he was nervous or upset, but she’d never seen him completely unable to say a word, no matter how much he struggled. She wished she had never heard the strangled, terrified noises that seemed caught in his throat. It was what had scared her worst of all—that he couldn’t tell her he needed help.

He kept his eyes closed, hands resting on his thighs. She wondered for a moment if he would ever answer or if he’d fallen asleep.

“I don’t know,” he finally whispered. “I just know it helps when I’m calm and I have my breath back. But sometimes it lasts longer than others.”

“And this morning...?”

“It lasted a long time. I think I was so scared of upsetting you that I had trouble letting myself get calm enough to... talk to you.”

She curled into his side, wrapping an arm across his ribs. “Thank you,” she said, “for talking to me now. I only scored so poorly on my progress report because I was so worried and I didn’t know how to help you. Now I do. And I’ll do better next time.”

“I hope there is no next time.” Exhaustion crept into his voice.

“Me too. But it can’t hurt to be prepared.”

He squeezed her against his side. “You didn’t score poorly on your progress report.”

“Um...yes I did! I got like one ‘good’ and a million ‘bads’!”

“Well, I think Pillowiope left out a very important question.”

“Oh? And what’s that?” She twisted so she could look up at his face.

“Kore being present in the room, good or bad?”

“And the answer?”

He smiled at her and kissed the crown of her head, inhaling and then leaving a warm sigh in her hair. “Very, very good. No matter what happened, waking up and seeing your face is infinitely preferable to waking up alone in the dark.”

“And...is a ‘very, very good’ worth more points?” She smirked.

“Well, since it’s the answer to such a foundational question, I would have to say yes. But you might have to take that up with Pillowiope. She seemed like she was the one in charge."

“Oh, she just thinks she is. I’m the one who really calls the shots around here.” Persephone snuggled closer. “Thank you, again. It means so much to me that you trust me with this. I love you so much.”

“You are most welcome, sweetness. I love you too. But... I have to be honest, I might have a thing for Pillowiope."

She flicked his chin. "Watch it, buddy. She's taken."

"Hmm. Too bad. Well, in any case, thank you for calling this meeting.” His laughter mingled with hers as he held her tight.

Persephone took a few swigs of water and then put the glass back under the tap to refill it. It hadn’t gotten easier to see him so afraid and so trapped, but this time hadn’t lasted nearly as long as the first. That had to be a good sign, right? She flicked off the bathroom light and padded back to the bed. Hades had one arm draped over his eyes.

“Do you want some water?”

He lowered his arm and shimmied up to lean against the head board. He drank deep and set the glass back on the night stand. She climbed over him, back to her side of the bed, and cuddled into his side. He wrapped one arm around her and sighed, rubbing his eyes with his other hand.

“How we doing?” She asked tentatively.

“O-o-ok.” He sighed. “T-tired.”

“I bet.” She lifted his hand to her face and kissed his palm. “Is this why your insomnia has been so bad lately? You were worried about this happening?”

She felt him nod.

“Are they nightmares too?” She had some experience with avoiding sleep because of those.

Another nod.

“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to,” she massaged the muscles in his hand and wrist, “but if you ever need to talk about it, I’m here.”

“I-I kn-n-ow.”

“Your therapist knows you have these?”

“Y-yes.”

“How long have they been happening?”

He shook his head. It could have been an “I don’t know,” but it could have been an “I don’t want to talk about this.” She nodded and bit her lip, thinking. Until he was ready to talk, there wasn’t much she could do but be here for him. And she would certainly do that.

“Do you want to try going back to sleep?” It was three in the morning according to her phone.

“N-not really.”

“Ok. What would you like to do?”

“You c-can sl-leep.”

“I’m afraid you’re stuck with me now! Pillowiope’s orders!”

He chuckled, and she felt warmth spiral through her chest. “T-tell me s-something.”

“What?”

“An-n-nything.”

“Ok... well, mother told me this story once about one of the nymphs who helped a mortal find her way to the Delphic Oracle...” She was nearly to the punch-line of her story when she looked up to see a reaction and found Hades’ eyes closed. “Aidon, are you asleep? I thought you were trying to stay awake.”

“...m lissning.” He slurred, not opening his eyes.

She smirked and started into the story again. This time she checked more regularly to see if he was sleeping, but gave up when she felt his breathing descend into sleep for a third time and his head lolling to rest on hers. She shifted the pillow beneath him and eased him to lie down. She kept the lights on, but curled herself into his side. She closed her eyes and tried to match her breathing to his.


End file.
